The Ruins of Oz: Starring Samurai Jack
by MercutioPuck
Summary: Jack is betrayed and Aku sends our hero to a post apocalyptic land of Oz. It's up to him and some familiar faces to help him get back to his world. Chapter Seven is up. Please Read, Review and Encourage me to keep going. It's not bad, I promise!
1. Chapter One

**The Ruins of Oz**

Starring Samurai Jack

Story by

Mercutio Puck

* * *

Chapter One. 

The warrior known as Jack, once again, found himself flying through the devilish portal, the same portal that threw him away from his home and time and to the horrific reign of his opponent . It was all too painstakingly familiar to him. It seemed like more like falling, as opposed to flying, with no guidance or direction, let alone control. Every limb on his figure was attempting to grab a hold of something, moving every which way they could. His right hand kept a firm grip of the blade: the very blade forged by the heavens to destroy all evil that is Aku. Even though it is quite evident that he wasn't fighting Aku, Jack still would have no idea where the portal would take him. He would have to be ready for anything that comes after him.

'How could I have been so foolish?' he thought. 'I've come so close to him.' Jack pulled the back of his Gi toward the front, so the tear in the cloth tainted red with blood was in his sight, '...only to have been betrayed.'

_**Hours Before.**_

_The warrior known as Jack is seen by his guide._

_The man who was leading him to Aku had introduced himself as LeBrute. He sported a slick hairdo that was parted to the left and was completely doused in sweat and humidity. Also on his head was a pair of wayfarer sunglasses, a thinly trimmed mustache, and a mole where his nose and cheek form his left nostril. He wore a deep purple t-shirt, a little loose to make him appear less heavy. Khaki trousers and a pair of black hunting boots completed his greasy ensemble. Jack caught his attention because he hasn't spoken in a long while. When he turned his eyes from the water, he saw Jack with a determined look in his brow. He fights the velocity of the air with a bold stance, while LeBrute had to sit down so he can control the fan-powered hovercraft._

"_It's just around this bend," LeBrute explained in a Creole accent. "but it's a pretty big bend. It will take at least another 15 minutes."_

"_That is fine." replied Jack. "I have been patient this long. I am sure it will be worth the wait."_

_LeBrute nodded and sped up as the turn became straight again. Jack still stood strong against the wind, only blinking to keep his eyes moist. The orange sky began to turn black and LeBrute shed his sunglasses to enhance his night vision with his merlot-like eyes_

_Whether it had actually been 15 minutes or not, the two come across a roughly large shack just perched on a dock. The wood is deteriorated and the shackles on the roof are periodically falling into the croc-infested waters. LeBrute slows down to not disturb the beasts, still advancing to the antique shack and dock. The moon started to rise over the peak of the house and gave an unusually brighter glow than a normal moonlight. Jack's eyes didn't even squint._

_The hovercraft lightly touched the poles that were holding the rustic planks. Jack emerged from his statuesque stance and ascended to the eerie property._

"_I cannot thank you enough, LeBrute. You have been most kind and I am forever grateful. However, I no longer require your help. I need to do this alone."_

"_Just make my time a better place. The future is really depending on you."_

_Jack humbly nodded to him as he turned around to face his destiny. He heard the fan from the craft start up again and quietly leaving Jack at the shack._

_He walked toward the door, which was within the porch next to a broken porcelain birdbath. The only thing he was aware of was the sound of his sandals clogging the the lumber and continuous frogs croaking. He kept his hand on his blade, still sheathed as he went inside._

_And there it was. Another door. This door was glowing bright red from whatever is behind it. It was clear to Jack that this was the new domain of Aku. It had to be. He could feel the darkness the door had conceived. He then got in a ready stance. He took two steps back. A sudden hush of all noise consumed the atmosphere. Jack had closed his eyes to collect all his thoughts. His goal is about to be reached. Aku will be no more..._

_and soon, not ever._

_Jack cried out, "AAAAAKUUUU!!" as he rushed the door, shattering and knocking it down all at the same time. Wood flew forward everywhere and the red glow had taken over the entire night lit scene. The room to which the door had led appeared bigger than the size of the house would permit. The heat in the lair nearly compacted Jack's face, but his scowl remained. Sure enough, there was the shape-shifting demon caught just turning around to see it to believe it._

"_S-S-Sa... Samurai!" he exclaimed in shock._

"_I finally found you, Aku. There is no escape! You knew that this was coming, and it's time to live up to your fate!"_

"_Samurai..." Aku began wryly. "You have irritated me for the last time! It is I who will be deciding your fate. Prepare to die!"_

"_Don't count on it." Jack intensely said softly._

_Aku shrieked and slowly transformed. Jack stood his ground for one beat of his heart and charged him. Aku quickly slithered out of the way in the form of a venomous three-headed cobra. Aku recoiled and was now in the attack position, grimacing and ready to strike. Jack continued to charge after him as Aku tried to deliver some poisonous blows. Jack naturally dodges all three of and jumps as high as the top would let him. He came diving down with the sword ready to slice. Aku could see what was happening and tried to retreat as fast he could. Unfortunately for him, Jack just caught him in cobra-like tail. Aku cried out in pain as the edges of his evil slowly began to diminish. He once again recoiled and out of fear, he struck again a split-second shortly after his retreat. Jack dodges and at the same time, slices the head clean off the body. That head of the demon fades away much like the tail._

_Aku tries to change form once more. Forming rapid-moving wings, his mouth transforms into a long, thin beak. He is now a giant hummingbird with flaming eyebrows. Above Jack, he smiles as he readies himself for another attack. Jack hesitates and begins to run. Aku's beak comes just centimeters away from impaling his foe's flesh. Cracking the ground doesn't even phase Aku. Jack hits a dead-end and is nearing a wall. Jack double-takes and idea and actually charges the wall while Aku is still pecking away. Jack runs up the wall and somersaults onto the back of hummingbird Aku. Quickly, Jack carves into the wing of his opponent. As Aku lets out another cry, Jack immediately takes out the other wing. Both wings vanish as Aku comes crashing down. Aku hits the ground and has become immobile after a long battle._

_The dust from the impact clears away. Aku has taken his normal form, but has completely deteriorated and is weak. Jack is over him ready to deliver the last blow._

"_This ends now!" he shouted. And suddenly, the was a stabbing pain in his right shoulder. Jack let out a yelling groan. Jack takes a second to relieve himself and he turns around to see who is trying to stop him. Jack's expression turns from pain to stunned when he sees two familiar characters._

"_LeBrute!" he said angrily. The he looked at the person next to his former guide and became dumbfounded once more. "And... you? But what about..."_

"_Me Husband?" the large woman said with a Highland accent, holding a machine gun that was just fired. "You can't expect a woman like me to love a soft man like that, could ya?"_

"_But...but..."_

"_Oh, but if you love him so much, then you could have him... or at least what's left of him anyway!" the Scotsman's Wife taunted Jack as she threw him the machine gun that was his friend's leg. Jack looks as the gun slides to him in pain and in sadness. She and LeBrute laugh deceitfully as they share a most revolting kiss._

"_This..." Jack began. "This was all planned?"_

"_Well, they could have arrived SOONER!" interrupted Aku. Jack turned around to see a portal where Aku used to be. Jack turned around to LeBrute and The Scotsman's Wife, only to be joined by Jack's nemesis, cackling at him._

"_NO! This can't happen!" enraged Jack._

"_Sorry Laddybuck." said the Scotsman's Wife. "You can't always live happily ever after!" She kicks him right in the mouth and Jack falls._

The breeze from gravity's force swept his face. The portal has led him somewhere and there is finally direction to Jack's fall: down. It is night and the air is thick. There is absolutely no light, so Jack is unable to tell where to fall. He quickly thinks that it might be a forest, or a desert of some kind. He positions himself to land without doing harm to his fatigued body. He slowly closes his eyes, reminiscing of what just happened. His enemy, once again beating him. His trust, broken. His former friend, traitor. His long-time ally, deceased. The only thing for Jack to do now is to move on. That was something he was beginning to get used to.

Jack's feet absorb the impact of the ground. He is able to keep his stance for almost two seconds, and then he collapses to one knee. He breathes heavily as the machine gun lands next to him. It was a total surprise for Jack. 'It must have fallen with me.' he thought. He shifts into a more comfortable sit and picks up the gun. Holding it, he looks back on his first day meeting The Scotsman. Then he moves on to the second day he ran into him; ironically, that was the day they went to rescue his wife. This angered Jack as he tried to block it from his mind. He started to remember all the good times he had with his friend and concluded, 'I still haven't got the taste from Haggis out of my mouth.' Jack chuckled to himself, while weeping at the same time. He stood up and picked up the weapon, looking at it and strongly gripping it.

"I will never forget you, my friend." he said to the machine gun.

Jack arose to see where he has landed. It wasn't a desert or a forest like he had thought. It was a city. Completely in ruin, the buildings were black with soot, windows broken everywhere, sidewalks are almost dust, there is no light in sight. Jack was astonished. He put his sword back in the sheath and began to walk on the first part of his new journey. The more he walked, the more depressed he became. This used to be many people's home, and it was in smithereens. This gave him all the more reason to defeat Aku. First his own home, then the future, his friends, now this poor little land.

He came across a sign. There was finally evidence on where he possibly might be.

"Welcome to..." Jack read aloud. He heard a sound of a shotgun cocked behind him. He gasped, but stayed still.

"Give me your weapons and leave this place. Do you understand?" asked an intimidating female voice.

* * *

_Just thought I'd let everyone know that I don't own the Characters Jack, Aku, The Scotsman, nor The Scotsman's Wife. But I bet you knew that._


	2. Chapter Two

The Ruins of Oz  
Starring Samurai Jack

Story by  
Mercutio Puck

* * *

Chapter Two.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Jack told the voice behind him, still not turning around.

"Yeah, I've heard that before." said the voice. "I bet it's everyday that strange people fall from the sky into these parts. Nothing out of the ordinary. Now I'm going to tell you once more. Give me your damn weap..."

She paused. Jack started to wonder what caused her to stop threatening him. There wasn't anything in front of him or her that would cause her to hesitate. Still, Jack stood his ground.

"You're wounded." she said. "Were you shot?"

Jack let his head down. "Yes. But it feels like I've been stabbed in the back." He could hear the woman lowering her firearm. Even though Jack saw this opportunity to attack his almost-assassin, he regained his trust from the woman's concern. He stayed in front of he sign, his back toward her and his head down.

"You're probably going to need a medic." she said. "It looks pretty bad."

Jack thought about the offer. Physically, he was weak because of the gunshot. However, would this world be able to heal him, let alone the woman who almost killed him for his blade and gun? "That would be wise." he said reluctantly.

The woman stepped closer to him. She passes him on his left not making eye-contact. He wouldn't have seen her face anyway because his eyes were still looking at the ground. "Follow me." She said as she was passing.

Jack began to follow. In order to see where she was actually going, he held his head up again. He caught a glimpse of the person he was just beginning to trust. His eyes look at her feet first and noticed they were unusual combat boots. The platform gave her at least 4 inches in height and the unique red leather buckled to the top of her calves. She also had on a pair of black fishnet stocking that had some holes in them. One black knee brace supported her left leg. It was evident to Jack that she, too, is a warrior of some kind. Moving up, she was also clad in a checkered blue skirt that went from her hips and down to her upper thigh, decorated in black rectangular patches and large safety pins. It wasn't anything tight; it actually flowed well enough so that she could use her legs in combat. The skirt was held by one pair of black suspenders, which was also decorated with randomly placed safety pins. Under the suspenders was a white tank top that revealed a star tattoo on her lower back. The white top, though partially covered in soot, also accented a red koi tattoo on her right shoulder and a hibiscus on the back of her neck. She appeared to have a necklace as well. She carried her firearm across her back from right to left. Her hair was shorter than the women Jack has encountered in his past. It was short enough to reveal her flower tattoo in a bob-cut fashion and has been dreadlocked. It was a dark-brown in color, but it was hard for Jack to tell since it was at night; however, he does manage to see slight blond streaks intertangled within her earth-toned follicles. 'She has a very fit figure.' Jack thought. 'She could be a great help or a great conflict.'

After a short distance, Jack and the mysterious woman reached a certain building, after viewing all the other ones and noticing that the building they had reached looked a lot like the ones they have passed. Cylindrical in shape and placed on stairs, for some reason they had very small doors. The burnt grass on the road makes Jack believe they had straw for their roofs. Unfortunately, that was no longer the case. Some places were lucky to even have roofs out of tree branches, let alone to even stand.

The woman grabbed a torch that was hanging next to the door. She let herself in and gestured to Jack to follow her. Both figures had to crouch down to get inside.

"This way," she said as she turned around. Jack finally caught a look at her face simultaneously with the moment she saw his for the first time. Jack saw she was wearing a bandanna in a pattern that matched her skirt. It was tied around her forehead so that her unique hairstyle was still visible. Her eyes were round and a light gray with the fire's reflection in them.

After Jack noticed her face, he took a look at the room and there wasn't much place to go. The building was obviously meant a much smaller person than he. "Which way?" he asked. "I don't even think I can move much further."

"Forget it." she said, sort of chuckling to herself. "I'll get the medic." She went over, hunched, to the other side of the house and knocked a code on the floor.

Two knocks.

One knock.

Three knocks

One more knock.

She cleared out of the way and stood next to Jack, who at this point was sitting on the floor. The floor she knocked on began to unhinge and a panel opened like a secret door. It revealed a whole new level under the house. A man's head with an old-fashioned pilot's helmet with goggles peered what was in his house with a torch. He looks around and sees the two giants in his house.

"Do you know this man, Gale?" he asked, revealing his cantaloupe-size head and bushy red mustache.

"This man is wounded in the shoulder. He was shot." explained the woman. Jack caught the notion that she responded to the name 'Gale'. Jack didn't seem to think she looked like a 'Gale'; but then again, he doesn't look like a 'Jack'. "He promised me before he wasn't going to hurt us. Are you going to help him or not?"

The man in the panel scratched his head. "I don't know if I want to trust him."

"I am trusting that you could help me." said Jack. "Surely, you could return the favor."

"Well, I never thought of it that way. I will help you." The man, showing signs of his old age, groans as he gets out of the panel. He is clad in brown overalls and a white thermal. He is short in stature, as if the house was built just for him. He approaches Jack on his cane. "Where's the wound?"

"In the back of my shoulder," Jack explained, turning around. "behind the tear in my cloth."

"Ah, yes. I see." the tiny man examined. "Well, um, I'm sorry, lad. I don't believe I caught your name."

"They call me Jack."

"Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Jack. My name is Thorn. I assume you and Gale already met."

"Yes, she has been most kind." Jack said looking at her with a smile. She returned the smile, completely forgetting that she once saw him as a threat.

"Well, Jack." began Thorn. "The first thing we'll have to do is extract the projectile. Then we will clean it out and from there, we'll patch you up. Does that sound okay to you?"

"If it must be done, then yes." Jack said.

"Very well. Now Jack, to make this comfortable for you, I'm going to ask you to ingest these herbs." Thorn said taking a bowl down from the shelf. "Once in your system, you will fall asleep and will be immune to the pain of the needle puncturing your skin, as well as the removal of the bullet." Jack looked at the bowl with a raised eyebrow, then back at Thorn. "Oh don't worry. It's an ancient Munchkin remedy. Our kind has been preparing it for generations now." Jack still looked suspicious. "Trust me."

"You can trust him." said Gale. "He's done the same for this." she showed Jack a scar next to her elbow. "And this." she said modeling a scar the size of a coin on her hip.

"Very well." Jack said.

"Just let me put some hot water in it." said Thorn as he deposits the steaming liquid from a teapot. The bowl of herbs emit a strong aroma of black licorice and mint. Jack assumed it would just be like drinking tea. Thorn handed him the bowl of medicine to Jack. "Take this." he suggested.

Jack took the bowl with both hands and proceeded to drink the herbs. It tasted just like it smelled to him. It was a little fierce to swallow, but Jack periodically finished the bowl and wiped his mouth with his hand.

"Now lie down, so that I can operate." said Thorn. Jack did so and could feel the effects of drowsiness from the herbs. Gale put her hand on his shoulder.

"You're in good hands, Jack." she reminded him. "I'll see you when you're all better."

Jack's eyelids began to fall. He accepted the sleep that was coming and closed his eyes on Gale, just as she was rubbing comfort into his skin.

Jack's eyes began to open. They closed again, but quickly attempted to open again. He was too weak to react, but he woke up to about a dozen people the size of Thorn, surrounding him in amazement.

"H-hello." Jack said with a yawn. This made every single person in the room gasp at the same time. They all mumbled to each other with astonishment and curiosity of their new visitor. There was a sudden hush in the room, and all eyes were on him. "I am Jack." he said with a bow. Again, all the tiny people whisper to one another, astounded that Jack is able to speak their language. They all fall to a sudden hush again.

"Give him some air, everyone!" Jack heard the familiar voice of the medicine man who treated him, as did his visitors. All the little citizens of the village backed up and made a path for Thorn to get through. "How is my patient?" Thorn said hobbling on his cane.

"I don't feel the pain anymore." Jack said with a grin. He then got a confused look on his face while looking at his lifeless arms. "However, I can't lift my arms."

"That's just the medicine, Jack." assured Thorn. "It's strong stuff."

"I can see that." saw Jack. This a made a group of three girls to his right giggle to themselves. Tiny as the rest of the crowd, Jack looked to see that they were all in tattered pink outfits with disheveled hair. The one in the middle was wearing a headpiece that elevated in height and curved in the front.

"Don't mind them, Jack." said Thorn. "They are the welcoming committee."

"Welcome to Munchkinland, Jack." said the hatted one in the middle with a fast, high-pitched voice.

"Yes. Welcome to Munchkinland, Jack." joined the other two in the same vocal style. They giggled to themselves again.

"You'll have to understand." began Thorn. "They haven't had a visitor here in a long time."

"Thank you, ladies." said Jack. "But after I regain movement in my limbs, I should be off. You have been very kind. All of you."

This made everyone in the house a little depressed, and sigh to each other.

"Out of my way, Munchkins!" Jack heard another familiar voice. "This soup is hot!"

"Gale!" many of the people, who apparently were known as Munchkins, exclaimed in excitement. The jumping from everyone made it difficult for herself a pot the size of her torso to get through to Jack.

"Hey, sleeping beauty." she said to Jack. "I made this soup for everyone like I do everyday, but I'm going to let you have some too."

"Gale has been taking care of us ever since she was a little girl." said Thorn. "She has been protecting us from evil outsiders, like the dreaded flying monkeys."

"Flying monkeys?" said Jack, intrigued.

"Pesky little things." she said. "But this soup will be very good for you. It should get you up in no time."

"Thank you." said Jack.

"While you're eating that soup," began Thorn. "why don't you tell us what brings you Munchkinland?"

"Yes! Tell us!" encouraged the welcoming committee.

The crowd all joined in to hear the story from Jack. He took a sip from his soup that was given to him in a bowl from Gale. Then he put his head down. "My story is certainly a long one." he explained. "And I'm afraid to say that it is not yet finished."

"Tell us!" the crowd said eagerly.

Thorn put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "You might as well tell it anyway," he chuckled. "It's gonna be a long time before you could move again."

"Very well." Jack conceded. Jack started with his early life after he acknowledged his father for defeating Aku with the sword he currently wields. He told the Munchkins that the second time Aku and his father met, his father wasn't successful as the first time. So as his foe took reign over his land, Jack trained with every warrior in all corners of the world before he returned to use the very sword. He went on to describe his own battle with Aku and how he was thrown into the future: away from Jack's time and where Aku's reign was supreme. He described his quest to defeat Aku and return to the past where he can undo the evil when Aku took over. He told them the friends he met, the pains he had to endure, and how Aku has tried very hard to destroy him. The Munchkins were all eager to hear what happens next in his fascinating tale. He ended his story with where he began in this new world. His listeners began to weep when they heard about how he was shot in the back, right before being kicked into the portal.

"So now I must continue my quest." concluded Jack. "To find my way back to my own time and undo this travesty and save the future from Aku." By the time he finished his story, the Munchkins stood in amazement with their jaws to the floor and Jack had finished his soup. "Thank you, Gale. I feel much better now. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way."

Jack stood up with ease, but hit his head on the ceiling. He must have forgot that the house wasn't big enough for him. "Where will you go?" Gale asked.

"I don't know." answered Jack, rubbing his head. "I am certainly not accomplishing anything by staying here. Is there anyone or anything I should seek that will help me on my way?"

The room looked around, silently thinking to themselves on anything that might help. "You should take Gale with you." Thorn said. "She knows Oz very well."

"What is Oz?" perplexed Jack.

"What is Oz?" reassured Thorn. "Jack, you're _in_ Oz. Just the Munchkin Territory of Oz, of course. But Oz, none the less."

"But Thorn..." began Gale.

"Gale," said Thorn. "You have truly been a savior to our kind for more than enough time. We can not even begin to thank you for your assistance. However, our new friend Jack has a greater cause than we. He needs all the help he can get."

"But..."

"We can fend for ourselves. You have taught the women to cook and the men to defend and fight. And if anything was to happen to any of us, I can heal them. You must aid Jack in his quest.

Gale looked at Thorn in sadness. She couldn't believe that her great friend is actually telling her to leave the Munchkin Country. On the other hand, she would probably be saving Oz and her loved ones who lived there. It was a rough mix of emotions running through her soul. "Okay." she finally spoke softly, with a hint of regret.

Jack waited outside with the Munchkins for Gale to come out of her stay. He was ready to embark on his quest and was almost a little impatient. He doesn't recall agreeing to have Gale along his side, but he was in sync with Thorn when he said he needed all the help he could get. He stood next to Thorn, who was also waiting for Gale impatiently. Though sending Gale was his idea, he knew he and his people were going to miss her. But something in Thorn's side let him know through the story Jack has told him that it was for the best of his people.

The door finally opens. Everyone outside turns their attention to Gale, who emerges from the house with two survival backpacks. She wore one and handed the other one to Jack. Jack put the Scotsman's gun inside after rearranging a full canteen, a compass, and an amount of homemade flares. Jack could only imagine what was in Gale's backpack. She walked down the stairs and straight to Thorn to kneel down and give him a hug. The embrace between the two was that of two best friends saying goodbye for the last time and had lasted for at least fifteen seconds.

"Be careful out there, Gale." said Thorn.

"I will." she replied and kissed his cheek. "Farewell." She walked back to Jack, holding back a single tear in the corner of her eye. "Are you ready to go, Jack."

"Yes." he answered. "Thank you, Gale. And thank you, everyone. I will never forget your kindness."

Everyone in Munchkinland had a heartfelt moment hearing them part from their country.

"Well, go on then!" shouted Thorn. "Go save the world and God Speed."

They both nodded to Thorn and headed out of the village and into the orange sunrise and black clouds along the rusted red path. What lies ahead of them is unknown, but Jack was ready and Gale as well.

"I wish you could have been here earlier, Jack." said Gale. "This road used to be yellow."

* * *

The characters Samurai Jack, Aku, The Scotsman, and The Scotsman's Wife are all property of Genndy Tartakovsky. 


	3. Chapter Three

**The Ruins of Oz**  
Starring Samurai Jack

Story by  
Mercutio Puck

* * *

Chapter Three. 

The wind had a slight breeze, as seen from dead , unraked leaves dancing side-to-side along the bricked path. It also produced a sound, accompanied by the steady clopping of Jack's sandals. He had embarked on a whole new world to him, yet his movement reveals an unnerving calm. Knowing himself, it's not the first time he's had to venture into the beyond alone; therefore, he was used to the silence and the sounds of nature.

Except he wasn't alone. His new companion, Gale, was a short distance ahead of him. She was his guide to this mysterious land of Oz and his aide if anything spontaneous were to happen. The silence between the two, after about two hours since departing Munchkinland, was beginning to seem awkward and neither Jack nor Gale could think of any small talk to make their journey remotely interesting. So they continued to follow the path, keeping all senses prepared for anything out of the ordinary.

"Wait." said Jack suddenly, halting himself. Gale stopped for one second before turning to him. She saw him in deep concentration. Keeping an eye on him, she too began to listen closely. She paid close attention, trying not to move because she might miss something with even the slightest sound from the rubbing of two separate fabrics. Jack slowly handled his sword, preparing for anything that might come his way. The intense blind stare in his eyes quickly shifted behind him and upwards as he saw some silhouettes with wings and tails, advancing in size as they made their way down. He put his hand over his brow to get a clearer look, while the other one was still on his sword. His eyes widened after a faint squint, followed by vengeful gasp.

"Aku!" "Monkeys!" Jack and Gale said at the same time. Jack turned around to ask Gale in confusion, "Monkeys?" as Gale stared at Jack questioning, "Aku?" The wind picked up from the many creatures' wings as they came closer as both Jack and Gale stopped asking questions and prepared to fight. As they came closer, it had become apparent to Jack that Gale was correct. They were indeed flying monkeys. Black, furry simians the size of gorilla with long tails and feathered wings, like vultures. However, Jack wasn't wrong. The monkeys all shared a certain black ghastly texture, green mouth, disfigured fangs, odd-shaped horns, and red flaming eyebrows with a beard to match that Jack's nemesis also sported. They were, indeed, very hideous creatures. Jack thought it was an absolute travesty that Aku had taken over this world as well and his stern scowl just grew angrier.

One particular primate descended laughing and landed first before the other four did. Despite being a little larger than the others, this one wore a red jacket that was the same color as his eyebrows. Jack had assumed that this one was the leader and would definitely have to be the one to destroy if he would win. "Hello, Gale." said the monkey with a grimace. "Who is your friend?"

"You know who I am, Aku!" said Jack, angered. "You have no need to play games!"

"Aku?" perplexed the monkey. "How do you know my name, foolish warrior?"

"I didn't know you even had a name." chimed in Gale. "The Munchkins have always referred you as 'the one that talks'."

"Enough!" continued the monkey Aku. "I don't care what anyone calls me! You are a well wanted woman in Oz, Gale. You will be taken prisoner!"

"Don't count on it." Gale smirked. She took her shotgun from behind her back and cocked it once. "Do you like the smell of lead burning into your flesh? It certainly beats your scent of wet fur and rotten bananas."

"Flattery will not get you anywhere." said Aku, peeved. "But your crimes will get you in a cell, where you belong. Guards! Seize them!"

When Aku pointed at Jack and Gale, that was the cue for the rest of the monkeys to attack. The smiled evilly and howled maniacally. The four flying monkeys leaped high into the air as Jack unsheathed his sword and Gale began to aim. The beasts, after reaching their peak, began to dive in all sorts of directions. But their confusing aerial tactics became more unusual as they began to swerve into a zig-zag pattern, making them a harder to hit. They began to encircle them and had them surrounded. The two stood back-to-back, but it didn't help them as one of the monkeys dove into the side of them, splitting them apart. Aku is quite pleased as this is all happening, heard from his diabolical cackle. Monkeys are now flying in every way within Jack and Gale's reach, zooming behind them before Jack can turn around a slash one down. They were also much too close for Gale's long range attack, but she was able to jump out of the way as one them tried a kamikaze tackle, avoiding the attack. There was action all around and both Jack and Gale had to pay attention what was happening to them individually since they were no longer next to each other in battle. The creatures themselves proved to be very swift and difficult to hit as the battle became longer, but the duo of Jack and Gale kept the battle and stood their ground.

Jack heard Gale cry out his name, "Jack!" as he was diving out of the way from a monkey tackle. He looked for her quickly and kept an extra heightened sense of his surroundings for other attacks. He finally spotted her red leather boots moving in an uncontrollable fashion, but they weren't on the ground. He adjusted his view upwards to see Gale being lifted by the inner shoulder above her triceps by one of Aku's look-a-likes. "Help!" she struggled to get out of the grasp from its ghost-like paws, but the simian's grip verified to be too strong. The leader, Aku, gave another laugh as the other monkeys howled in delight.

"Gale!" Jack said to himself. On instinct, he sprung into the air, evading another attack and plummeting a monkey face-first into the road. In that bound, he ascended himself upon the back of one of them flying in the air. From there, he jumped again, up and forward toward another winged primate. He landed on his back as well, crouched and ready for an even bigger leap. Finally, he took one final propulsion into the air from the back of the beast. His sword was held high over his head and it reflected the sun in Gale's capturer's eyes. As he had reached his peak from his jump, Jack began to descend, crying out loudly giving him that extra bit of strength. With the help of the force of gravity, Jack's sword came slicing down and the precise moment when he had reached the monkey, coming nowhere near in contact with Gale. The monkey shrieked in pain as it closed its eyes, not even bearing the affliction to even look what was done to him. The breeze entered the wound and somewhat calmed the creature to look down and see what happened; but the first thing it saw was Gale turning her front toward itself with its own arms still attached the falling girl, disintegrating into lit ash . She readied her shotgun, aimed, and fired a shot, dead-on between the eyes of the creature. The shot was so smooth that the flying monkey didn't even scream like it did when Jack cut off its arms. Gale was caught by Jack's arms, since Jack had landed first. The lifeless body fell to the ground and turned to dust on impact. Aku and the other monkeys made no sound. They stared at the clouds that have formed on the path in shock and in fear. Aku then saw Jack set Gale down as she cocked her gun at him. The monkey's arms were just burning down to their last smithereens. Jack smirked slightly.

"R-Retreat!" cried Aku. The now three and Aku flew off from where they came, howling in panic and fear. Jack began to follow, but was stopped by Gale.

"It's not them we're after." explained Gale.

"But that was Aku." said Jack. "He was the one that sent me here."

"Even if it is Aku, whoever he is, there's something bigger, more powerful, and more evil than the flying monkeys."

"An evil bigger than Aku?" Jack tried to imagine. "It can not be."

"Well, there is. That 'Aku' you're speaking of is only, like, the monkey commander, you know? There is someone paying him and his crew to capture me. And quite frankly, I don't want to be captured for something I'm pretty sure I didn't do because some loony thinks that General Banana-Brain is his key out of Oz. Got it?"

"I'm sorry." said Jack. "I did not know."

Gale looked at Jack, holding his head low. "It's fine."

"If there is an evil bigger than Aku," Jack began. "then Aku has been overthrown. Therefore..." Jack hesitated to even think what he was about to say. "I must be an even longer way from my time, the past." He sighed to much grief and disappointment. "I have taken a step backwards."

Gale put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Jack." she started. "I'm sure there's way."

"How do you know?"

"I don't know. But I've always believed that good things will happen to good people, like us, you know?"

"I hope you are right."

"And the longer we're patient, the better the good thing will be. So, in a way, it's actually one step closer to something really awesome. Do you understand, Jack?"

Jack listened to Gale's words. "You must forgive me. I find that a little hard to believe. I am sorry."

"Stop being sorry. I just thought of something. We have to keep going. I promise it will be worth it."

Jack lifted his head to Gale's hopeful grin. Jack, reluctantly returning the grin, nodded. "Very well. Where are we going?"

"There's a friend of mine past that curve and a little off the road. But it will be easy to find again."

"So, we are going... _off_-course?"

"We'll be back on the road, Jack. We're just going to visit someone who I know can help us."

"How?"

"He's only the wisest man I've ever known. Smarter than Thorn, even. And Thorn's a doctor. Do you know anyone smarter than a doctor, Jack? Do you?"

"I don't know anyone here, period."

"Oh, right... Well, he's right this way. It'll be easy to find, it's a huge tower in the shape of an ear of corn. You can't miss it."  
"You mean to say," Jack interrupted. "that the wisest man you have ever known lives in a corn tower?"

"Will you just trust me?"

Jack nodded and followed the path. A tower of corn is definitely something Jack has never seen before in his life. His state of mind went from non-belief to curiosity. It was a little easy for him to transition from the thought of being one step behind in his quest. He actually walked a little faster and kept pace with Gale to not only see the this tower, but the wise man who has been to said to live there. It was all very humorous to Jack the more he thought about it, but he kept a very serious face until they finally reached the end of the turn. His serious face became shocked as he laid his upon the silhouette of a tower.

"Just across those fields of wheat." Gale said. "Or at least what's left of it. Do you see it?"

"Yes." Jack answered. "It is incredible. I, also, used to have wheat fields in my time." Jack reminisced when he was young, chasing grasshoppers with a certain female his age at that time in a brighter field then the one in front of him. His flashback of the girl and the fields morphed into reality, where Gale has taken the little girl's place, the shadow of the corn tower was in in the distance and the sky became orange again.

"Well, come on." Gale said.

"Yes." Jack nodded. He then began to slice down the stalks of wheat to make the path easier. He also had the idea that he could follow the chopped stalk back to the road after he met the man. He thought to himself, "Two birds, one stone." and grinned to himself as Gale followed.

* * *

_The characters Samurai Jack, Aku, The Scotsman, and The Scotsman's Wife are all property of Genndy Tartakovsky. However, Aku's forms of a flying monkey and his minions are completely my ideas.  
_


	4. Chapter Four

**The Ruins of Oz**  
starring Samurai Jack

Story by  
Mercutio Puck

* * *

Chapter Four.

Jack was aware of the absence of life near the tower. His ears looked for even the slightest buzz from a fly, or even a caw from a black crow. He thought positively about not hearing those sounds because he knew those animals were both scavengers, which meant nothing is dead here. However, there certainly wasn't anything living here either. How could a wise man even dwell in such a tower where the only thing living is a field of wheat? Even the wheat barely stood, and it wasn't helping that Jack was slicing a path down.

While doing so, Jack took random opportunities to look up at the tower. Each step he took, the building appeared taller, as if it was growing from it's stalk. Also, it became less of a silhouette and began to show some color as he advanced. However, there wasn't much color and if there was, it must have rusted off and faded away. It was like copper, but with a coat of oil stains. A brown metal that didn't shine was the entire structure. The would-be yellow kernels was the same tone as the would-have-been green husk. No longer did the two distinctions clash. The orange sky with black clouds even had more vividness than this rustic building. It might as well have stayed a shadow.

There was a rustle behind Jack. A different rustle than the wheat in front of him. He turned around swiftly to observe the different noise and only saw Gale. She was falling forward and she caught herself before she could land on her face. Jack prepared himself to save her, but could only retreat himself after seeing that she didn't need his help.

"You must be careful." Jack said.

"Must have been a rock, I guess." said Gale. She looked at Jack turn around to keep going and followed him. Without them noticing, a spot on the soil began to blink red, not making a sound.

They reached the point where they could look at top and barely keep their eyes open from the dark sun. However, there wasn't a door. At least on the side they were looking at.

"The door is on the other side." explained Gale.

"Away from the road?" perplexed Jack. "But that seems so..."

"I know, illogical, right? Nobody really asks him why he does the things he does. His reasonings end up making sense to people only of his intellect. If you ask me, I think he's the only one. We'll just have to walk around it."

Jack nodded. He didn't have to cut down a path because a ring around the tower was formed from bent stalks of wheat. Both of them showed no hurry in their walk to the other side.

A clash of metal echoed from inside and stopped Jack and Gale within feet from the door that led inward. They paused and waited for something else to happen. The only thing they heard was another clash. Then another. Gale readied herself for conflict as Jack stood his back to the exterior of the building. He grabbed Gale by her suspenders and put her in the place next him. They heard more clashes, each one louder than its predecessor. Jack signaled to her to follow him and they ran the opposite direction.

Just then, a standing machine stepped out to reveal heavy barrels loaded with rockets decorated in yellow and black caution paint. It took another step outside, its top just scraping the tip of the door. Its big red eye scoped its perimeter and took two more steps forward, rotating it's upper-half 360° horizontally and counter-clockwise. Its exterior had no paint, showing the inseams from welding, complete with oil stains and few scratches in its hard, metallic skin. There was even an extra plate just bolted next to its eye, as if resembling a patch of cloth sewed on a blanket. The legs pivoted to the direction Jack and Gale ran and made its way on a mission to destroy. Unknowing, Jack was behind it, soaring through the air with his sword high above his head. He was just coming down, seen from the velocity of the force of gravity hitting is clothes. The machine turned its upper half toward Jack and at the same time its red eye was on him, Jack's sword came in contact with its scope. It sliced the the metal like hot butter, as sparks flew out of the newly formed crevice. The blade, finally out of the machine's other side, became sheathed after Jack landed and stood up.

The machine crumbled in two evenly separated pieces to the ground behind him. Jack knew what had happened and didn't bother to turn around. But an unexpected whistle came out of the barrel and into the sky. Jack turned around to a trail of white smoke from the machine and continuing into the atmosphere. Finally, it exploded into a yellow and green fire cloud. It was definitely a pleasant change of scenery from the sky Jack and Gale have been watching since they're journey began.

"Impressive." Jack said.

"Yeah." Gale replied, just appearing from the turn of the tower. "Can you believe that was almost us? How'd you like to be blown to smithereens from _that_?"

"You really think it would be less honorable to die in a green and yellow explosion?" asked an unknown voice. Jack and Gale set rushed their attention to the door of the tower. Even though Jack has seen many unusual beings in his time, he has never seen a man made out of cloth and straw until now. He started at his deep grayish-brown trousers, which were tucked inside his black boots, as well as some access straw that was sticking out just above his calves. More straw was finding its way out of bright red patches on the pants. His leathered holsters held a revolving pistol on each of of his hips and his white, thermal long-sleeve, too, had slight oil stains and more straw escaping through every which way. His gloves, had not been for the sewing seams, looked exactly like human hands, but more straw was cuffing the wrists. And just past the suspenders upward was a slim, burlap bag with a rope tied at the opening formed a neck and a head. Not only did it have black yarn stylized as modern hair, disheveled and pulled back from his goggles resting on his forehead, but it had an almost complete face. Two brown eyes, a mouth, and even a chin somehow formed out of straw and burlap. However, there a was a little patch, slightly more distinctive than the burlap, where his nose should have been. "I think I'd be more embarrassed if I was even killed by_ this_ hunking piece of crap." he finished his thought in a raspy, sarcastic voice.

"Waco!" Gale sighed in joy as she embraced the man as if she hasn't seen him in a long time. The straw man returned the hug and had a great smile on his face.

"Waco?" he chuckled. "Nobody's called me Waco in years! It's good to see you, kiddo." The reunion of these two was a special unique one that Jack was able to recognize. They weren't lovers. They weren't siblings. They weren't father and daughter. They weren't even twins conjoined at the hip. Only two of the best of friends could hug each other like they did. This was the first time Jack felt serene since landing in this world, and he couldn't help but smile at the site. It took him back to when his friend The Scotsman saved him from sirens from their last encounter on a deserted island, and then the friendly competitions afterwards to see who would get to row the boat back to civilization. His memories stopped as soon as he made eye-contact with the straw man hugging Gale. Gale let go of him when she felt his grip ease away from her. "I don't believe we met. I... am Scarecrow." He offered his hand to shake.

"Scarecrow?" asked Jack. "But I just heard Gale call you Waco."

"Oh." he slightly laughed. "That's what she used to call me way back when she was just a little girl. You'd think by now, she'd have the pronunciation right."

"Oh, Waco." interrupted Gale. "I can say your _real _name. I just like Waco better."

"Now, Gale. You're an adult, now. You may call me Scarecrow. Besides, it always irritated me when never pronounced your 'R's'. Now where was I?"

"I am honored." Jack bowed, reminding exactly where Scarecrow was. "They call me Jack. Gale tells me you can help me."

"How so?"

"Well, to make a long story a short one, I need a portal that can send me back to my own world."

"A portal, you say?" intrigued Scarecrow. His eyes lit up, but at the same time he expressed no emotion. "Come with me."

Jack and Gale followed Scarecrow inside the tower. They both saw elaborate labs of chemicals and machinery and botany, scattered among the higher levels. Jack grew more confidence in Scarecrow by seeing all these experiments; he was so sure that he could help him now. "You can help me?" reassured Jack.

"Jack," began Scarecrow. "I have been studying the things you speak of for many, many years now. I don't blame you for wanting a way out of Oz. Science, logic, relativity, positioning of stellar bodies, even urban legends have told me. I'm sorry, Jack. Every theory I had for such travel has been disproved. I can't do anything in my expertise to help you." Jack put his head down. Scarecrow saw him and though he was anxious to tell what he _could_ do, he played the sympathy card for about four seconds. "But I know someone who can." Jack's mood instantly changed and Scarecrow was excited to see it. "I imagine you're taking the road to Emerald City?"

"Yeah." said Gale.

"Good. You're on the right path. There is, at least I hope there still is, a woman in the city. The last I heard from her, she was doing well. So she should be easy to find." Scarecrow explained as he was rummaging through a closet and the others watched as they listened.

"Who is this woman?" asked Jack.

"A magic woman!"

"Magic?" asked Gale. "Waco, if this woman had so much magic, she would have saved Oz by now. What makes you think she'll help Jack?"

"She's the only hope you've got Gale. What else were you going to do in Emerald City? Would it hurt to even see?"

"He does have a point." said Jack. "If we were going there anyway, I don't see any harm in that plan."

"Okay" said Gale, still suspicious. "But how are we going to spot her out?"

"You leave that to me." Scarecrow said as he stepped out of the closet. He took of his lab goggles and had put on a lightweight leather-hided coat that was dark green in color, a supply bag strapped across his right shoulder, a scythe across the left shoulder, and a black brimmed hat, which the peak curved down and back. It also shared some bright red patches. "Because I'm coming with you."

This caught both of them by surprise, especially Gale.

"Waco, we appreciate the offer," she said with a look of concern. "but you don't even know how Emerald City has become yet."

"And you do? I'm pretty sure everyone who doesn't inhabit there knows nothing about it anymore."

"You're still made of straw, Waco. You could get burned."

Scarecrow looked disgusted. "You know it irritates me when you say that. And I'd appreciate if you never mention it again. I'll forgive you since it's been a while." His tone was calm and angered at the same. He paused to collect himself before he decided to continue. "I can tell you're worried. You have to understand there is going to be a fateful day where we will never see each other again."

"Don't say that..."

"Gale, please. You can't depend on yourself, let alone Jack. I've been in Oz longer than you have lived. If you want to find this woman safely, I need to come with you. I told I'd face a whole box full of lighted matches a long time ago. I still can and I _am_ going with you."

"I think he is right, Gale." said Jack. "He can lead us to the magic woman and perhaps even talk her into saving Oz once I'm home. I'm sure he would be beneficiary to us. He already has helped us in the next step by giving us such information."

"I guess." said Gale. She felt a little awkward after losing the argument to protect her longtime friend. It came to her sense that Scarecrow was also looking for what was best for her, Jack, and the Land of Oz as she was looking for what was best for him. She recovered from her silence with a small grin. "Plus it would be kinda fun to hang out again."

"Thank you, Scarecrow." said Jack. "Where do we go from here?"

"Back on the road." said Scarecrow. "And from there it's a straight shot to Emerald City. There is no chance of us getting lost. Let's get you home, Jack."

Jack had started to feel selfish. This person hasn't even heard Jack's story, yet he was willing to go out of his way and risk his life just so Jack can get back to his time, just like everyone else in this world has done to him. He tried to think of something he could to return the favor of everyone who's been hospitable to him. However, he may offend someone if he brought it up. This was, after all, a different culture. It took Jack what seemed like a minute to think of something to say, but only said, "Right." The three headed out of the tower, around it, and down the path that led back to the road.

* * *

_Even though Gale and Waco (pronounced WAY-ko) are loosely based on characters created by Frank L. Baum, I still like to think of them as my own. However, the characters Samurai Jack, Aku, The Scotsman, and The Scotsman's Wife are all property of Genndy Tartakovsky._


	5. Chapter Five

**The Ruins of Oz**  
starring Samurai Jack

story by  
Mercutio Puck

* * *

Chapter Five.

"_She's beautiful. I can't believe we were able to create something so... so..."_

"_I know, Gregory. The lord has certainly blessed us with such a precious gift."_

"_I only wish we could give her a better life."_

"_Don't say that. We are."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Gregory..."_

"_Don't get the wrong idea, Mae. Henry and Em are nice people, but they're just as poor as we are."_

"_They have a farm."_

"_A farm of dust..."_

"_Gregory!"_

"_I'm just saying, Mae. Why don't we try to raise her ourselves?"_

"_Really, I think..."_

"_Mae. This is your gift to me. I could never give that up."_

"_I... I don't know, Greg. I don't know what to say."_

"_I love you, Mae. And I love our beautiful, beautiful daughter. Say yes."_

"_...okay."_

"_Okay?"_

"_Yes!"_

_The darkness took its time to shift into the light. The windows were very sensitive to the brightness but they eventually gathered the strength to stay open. The images were blurry, but the focus was getting clearer to see two faces kissing. One looked down into the eyes._

"_Mae, look! She's opening her eyes."_

"_Oh, Greg. They're amazing."_

"_Have you thought of a name yet?"_

"_Dorothy. It means, 'gift of gods.'"_

"_It's perfect." The man stroked just edge of the left side of the view. "Welcome to the world, Dorothy Gale."_

* * *

The road seemed to get longer with every step that was taken. Three pairs of legs traveled the long path of winding curves and gentle inclines, but the speed was becoming tedious and nobody showed signs of wanting to rest. Jack was particularly quiet throughout the distance covered, even though words were barely spoken since recruiting the intelligent Scarecrow to assist Jack and Gale. However, Jack was still the person that knew the area the least as well as its inhabitants. Despite wanting to get there as soon as he could, he has to keep an extra sense of awareness while at the same time not worrying the others. He still could not believe there was a higher power that was actually ruling over Aku in the form of a winged primate and the fact that he's never seen it himself keeps him all the more on the lookout on all his surroundings. It's as if he couldn't afford to blink, so he just remained silent.

The sky was still lit; somehow it managed to maintain morbidly orange despite the time passing and lack of sun. It was the only color other color Jack has seen since arriving in Oz. He could depict that it was nowhere near the night from his landing in a purplish darkness in Munchkinland. Even though there was no sun to be seen, he still wore his unique woven headgear to keep the brightness out of his vision.

He stood on the right of Gale. No longer was he a few steps behind her like he previously was. And to his right was Scarecrow, who walked with a little stumble with steps he took. However, his legs were still strong enough to avoid any awkward tripping. A piece of straw fell from his boot and was picked up by the wind, but Scarecrow thought nothing of it. He didn't even appear to notice and neither did Jack and neither did Gale. They were just a few steps from reaching the peak of an incline in the road.

"Up ahead." said Scarecrow, still walking with the rest. "We're nearing the Black Forest."

"Really?" asked Gale. "It's been so long for me, Waco."

"Me too." Scarecrow replied.

"Jack, that means we're getting closer to where we need to be." she explained.

"Emerald City." reiterated Jack.

"That's the one." said Gale with a smirk.

"All we have to do is stay on course through the forest." said Scarecrow. "Emerald City is just on the other side."

Determination increased throughout Jack, Gale, and Scarecrow as soon as that thought was realized. Jack's steps became a little larger; thus propelling him a little further than the rest. Scarecrow and Gale had no trouble catching up to him and were ready to aid Jack when needed.

After about a half-mile, they approached the entrance into the Black Forest. But to everyone's surprise, thick, firmly planted roots with dark-green moss, along with a wall of heavily trunked trees, was blocking passage into the wilderness. It was as if they had reached the border and could not follow the road any farther.

"Should we just walk around?" asked Jack.

"No." said Scarecrow. "It is imperative that we follow the road to Emerald City."

"The forest isn't letting us." explained Gale. "There's too much roots. I didn't even know they could grow that way. All... wall-like like that."

Jack thought it was nothing out of the ordinary. After all, they're only trees. Plants have been known to do some weird things, like face the sun, provide refreshing water, or even eat flies. Jack thought if botany could do such things like that, they could surely grow excruciatingly close together and even have roots growing out of the surface several feet tall and form a blockade. Then Jack gave a second thought and concluded that it was a little weird after all. However, he _was_ in Oz.

"This is silly." Jack said. "We will simply climb over this root wall. It won't be that hard." With that, he walked towards the roots and readied himself to ascend. He gripped one root at arm's height with his right hand, then his left. His feet found other roots for him to step and help him get higher. He was climbing with ease and encouraging the others to join him.

They shrugged at each other and took steps to start climbing. But suddenly, the ground began to shake and Scarecrow and Gale backed off immediately. Jack's hold on the roots became tighter as the earth quaked harder and harder with every second he was still hanging to the wall.

"Jack, are you mad?" shouted Scarecrow, recuperating from his jump.

"Get off!" yelled Gale.

As much as he didn't want to, he jumped off anyway. After he landed, he turned around to see what was becoming of this quake. The wall's roots were retracting out from the center, both left and right. Jack feared he had disturbed something very powerful as the ground showed no signs of stopping its shake. Jack looked at Gale, then at Scarecrow. Then Gale and Scarecrow looked at each other. After making eye contact with everyone, they centered their focus back the shaking forest. All at the same time, Jack readied his sword out of his sheath, Gale steadily aimed her shotgun, and Scarecrow took the scythe off his shoulders in a primed stance. The three were ready for something big indeed.

Then the earth stopped shaking. Jack, Gale and Scarecrow held their ground for a time only to be measured in seconds. They put themselves at ease and beheld what had become of the blockade. It had completely disappeared. Tiny dirt particles floated across what used to be there, but the path that continued to Emerald City was still seen.

Jack raised an eyebrow and put his blade back in his sheath. "Well then..." he said, breaking a silence.

"Yeah..." joined in Gale. From the lack of said words, it was obvious the three were confused to what had just happened. She disarmed herself from her shotgun and awkwardly patted on her thighs, making a popping noise with her lips.

"I guess we keep going then." said Scarecrow, still sounding unsure of himself. "Shall we?"

"Oh! Yes. Certainly." Jack stammered from the surprise.

"Okay!" chimed in Gale. She stepped with her right first, then the others followed and joined her side by side. Everything seemed like a strange convenience for them. However, they can never be too sure to trust what's in front of them.

"None shall pass." a deep, crusty voice echoed slowly.

They knew it was too good to be true as they prepared themselves in a split-second. They set their gazes directly to what was in front of them. Jack's was the only jaw to drop when he saw the lines of trees turning around while at the same time, having the branches lower. Then closed knotholes began to open, revealing bright yellow eyes and mouths like that of jack-o-lanterns. They weren't just trees anymore. Monstrous creatures now stood in the way of the three, daring them to make it through the forest alive.

"As keepers of the Black Forest," started the tree-thing on the path's right, in the same voice used before revealing their faces. "we cannot allow anyone to go through us."

"Therefore," said the tree-thing to the path's left. "you may not proceed."

"But it's the only way to Emerald City." said Gale. "We have to get there as soon as possible."

"You do not understand, my child." said the right tree. "Our forest is filled with dark magic, wandering strangers, and the land's most dangerous creatures. More frightening then us keepers, even."

"And Emerald City is far worse than our forest." interjected the left tree. "By not letting you through, we're actually saving your lives from grave danger. It would be most wise for you to turn around."

"I'm sure we can handle it." said the Scarecrow. "Our friend Jack desperately needs to return to his time so he can undo all this mess. The minute he's back to his place in time, the instant things are going to change for the better."

The trees' expression did not change. Sympathy did not show through the faces of bark, nor did voices of reconsideration utter through their mouths. They stood straight and did not move from their spots.

"Please." said Jack. "I must get through to Emerald City." Still no reaction. Jack had no problem hiding his impatience. However, it was a case of now or never for him "It was not my intention to disrespect your authority. But if you will not let me through peacefully, then I will have to cut you down to continue my path." He took time going into a battle stance. He could tell that the Trees were just trying to be peaceful. It wasn't as if they were one of Aku's bounty hunters out to destroy Jack. He did not need to

"Cut... us... down?" asked the right Tree, with a little concern.

Jack nodded his head. "It's not what I want to do, but..."

"With that sword?" sarcastically asked the left Tree. "How many trees have you cut down with a sword?"

"I'm sorry?" said Jack, confused with the sudden change of tone.

"Oh, did we upset you?" asked the right Tree, now sounding much like the Tree on the left. "_Oooh, I'm cwazy pajama man! The big bad Twees aren't going to wet me thwough. That suuuuure makes me mad! Feel the wath of my tiny sword! _Don't make me laugh, mate!_"_

"Don't push it, brother." said the left Tree, still in a sarcastic voice. "He might throw that cantaloupe at us from his basket."

"That's not a cantaloupe in a basket. That's his head in a basket!" the Trees started to laugh, making fun of his hat.

Jack's face began to turn red, from both embarrassment and impatience. His brows began to slant down toward his face as the grip on his sword tightened. Gale's arm stopped Jack from doing something he might regret, even though Jack had barely budged. He looked at her and nodded. Her arm slowly backed away and left Jack alone. She knew that Jack could hold his temper now, unlike some people that she had known.

"Are you serious?!" exclaimed Scarecrow. "You start off guarding the forest, then you open it, then you turn around saying we can't go in for our own good, and now you're making fun of us?"

"Not you. Just Pajama Sam over here." replied the right Tree.

"But you should have seen the looks on your faces!" added in the left Tree. "You were like..." the left Tree started making mock-hesitation noises and roboticly flailed his limb-like branches.

"Yeah! And then you were all..." the right Tree was making the same motions as his left counterpart, but his noise were more like sighs of relief.

"Ha ha! And now, you're like..." both trees, moving their branches, start mumbling in play-anger. They both point and laugh at the three of them; much to their dismay, Jack, Gale, and Scarecrow stood still with arms folded and heads hunched over looking up.

"You guys are jerks." said Gale, quietly.

"If you are finished," began Jack. "we would like to continue through the forest."

"We really don't have time for this." said Scarecrow. "Let's just go."

Jack and Gale nodded in agreement. They all put their weapons away for a more drastic time to use them and continued to proceed through the jesting forest. Their laughter became louder and more obnoxious as the became closer to the entrance. They tried all they could to avoid eye contact with them.

"Hey!" the right Tree suddenly broke from the cackles. "What do ya think _you're_ doing?"

"We're going to Emerald City." explained Scarecrow, peeved. "You're nonsense is merely slowing us down."

"Wait a minute!" said the left Tree, as if he had noticed something wrong. He paused and made sure they were all listening before he said anything else. "Did you just call us jerks?"

All three of them turned to their left with the most subtlest look of shock in their faces. Silence came over them again, making the situation a little awkward.

"Wow." uttered Gale. Even though her tone wasn't the most enthusiastic, she really did have a hint of surprise in her. Them being jerks was old news to her, as well as Jack and Scarecrow. They just assumed the Trees were as over it as they were.

"We..." Jack started, trying to make things less awkward once more. "We must be on our way."

"Finally." added in Scarecrow. And like that, they started their quest into the Black Forest with apathy towards the Trees.

"Wait a minute!" yelled the Tree on the right.

They kept walking.

"I said Wait a Minute!"

Still no response. By this point, the three of them had passed the Trees effortlessly by about ten feet into the forest.

"Oh, let them go, brother." said the Tree on the left, making sure the three doesn't hear them. "They'll be caught eventually. After all, don't we still have that woodsman still wandering around?"

"Oh, right!" replied the right Tree. "I forgot about that! It won't be long till they realize there's no way out!"

"Once you check in..."

"You'll never check out!"

The Trees cackled once more, while at the same time turning back into their previous positions. The roots began to come out of the ground slowly and form the wall that blocked passage through the forest. Now it had guarded access to the outside world.

* * *

_Even though Gale and Waco (pronounced WAY-ko) are loosely based on characters created by L. Frank Baum, I still like to think of them as my own. However, the characters Samurai Jack, Aku, The Scotsman, and The Scotsman's Wife are all property of Genndy Tartakovsky._


	6. Chapter Six

**The Ruins of Oz**  
starring Samurai Jack

story by  
Mercutio Puck

* * *

Chapter Six.

There was still enough light to see the path, however the orange sky could no longer be seen. The branches and leaves of the forest were so heavy that whatever light shown through looked like stars at night. Beams shined through the thickness of the very peak of the forest, producing random spots of luminescence over the woodland floor. If anyone thought it was too dark to see anything, then the sounds of leaves in the breeze, chirping crickets, and any other quiet noises of wilderness could be overheard by familiar footsteps hitting the path that was supposed to be out of the forest and to Emerald City.

Gale and Scarecrow walked on the sides of Jack. Their steps were not in sync, but they stayed together leaving no one behind. No signs of fatigue are noticeable as they continued their way down the dim, winding road.

A clang on the ground fell behind him from the pack on Jack's back. The noise startled the three of them briefly, forcing them to react and turn around swiftly. Jack was the first to look on the ground to behold what was there. The Scotsman's weapon of a leg appeared to have fallen out of the top of his equipment. Upon seeing it, he realized that he had nearly forgot what was done. This new world, where Aku is the subject to something more evil, where a young lady is the protector of the village of little people, and where trees not only talk but they ridicule anyone who passes them, has really gotten to Jack to the point where he couldn't remember how he got here in the first place. He blinked with his head down, standing at ease. He gave out a sigh, and bent over and picked up the gun.

"You don't want to lose that." said Scarecrow. "Looks pretty dependable."

Jack looked up at Scarecrow, almost with disgust in his face. He could have lost his temper and explained the whole thing to him; however, Jack knew that Scarecrow didn't know. He wasn't trying to be insensitive. Scarecrow was just trying add commentary because he was aware of how long they've been silent ever since joining them.

"You have no idea." said Jack, keeping his cool as he put the gun back in his pack. "Let's keep going."

They turned themselves to the direction they were facing before they were distracted and continued. Jack then looked at Gale, who was looking back for a split second. She was concentrated on the road as well. She kept her thumbs on the straps of her backpack to avoid any uncomfortableness on her shoulders. The longer he stared at her, the more interested he became of her story. She is the most normal looking one here that Jack has seen. She wasn't short in stature, she wasn't made of straw, she certainly wasn't a flying monkey, and she wasn't a talking tree. She was just human, just like Jack. Is it possible that she isn't necessarily a native here? She could have been just as sent to Oz as Jack was. There's even a chance that she was even from the same world as he was. He never did ask anything about her, but maybe if he did, he could find some answers as to how to escape.

"Gale." he asked for her attention.

Gale turned her head to see what Jack had to say. Unnoticed, Scarecrow also lent an ear to hear these breaks from silence.

"Yea?" she replied.

"How did you ever..." Jack tried to search for the right words, without offending anyone like Scarecrow or Gale herself. "What I mean to say is, are you..." He still had a hard time. Both Gale and Scarecrow were really paying attention to what he had to say. "How did you ever..."

Before Jack could finish, dangerous growls came from bushes on the right of the road. They shifted directions quickly, but only to hear more growls from the left. They, again, switched directions; but Gale and Jack remembered the first growls and turned around for prevention of sneak attacks. Scarecrow kept his eyes on the left, but a third set of growls coming from down the road caught them all. They backed up slowly, so they could a view from all three sides of the path.

A pair of dim, yellow eyes emerged from the darkness ahead, then twice more in the rustling bushes on the sides. They slightly moved up and down in synchronization to their heavy breathing, not necessarily all three pairs moving at the same time as each other. The sound of paw prints slowly hitting the road became louder and closer to Jack, Gale, and Scarecrow. But before anything else could be seen, the head of a white wolf appeared from the left bush with grinning eyes and a fanged snarl. Another white wolf had slyly came out of the right bush, much to the same fashion as the opposite side. Then finally, the creature coming down the road came to form. A large gray paw stepped into what little light was in the forest, followed by another. Finally, its head appeared from the shadows. A slightly larger wolf, dirtier in color making it somewhat gray, stood as high as Jack's stomach and was as wide as the blade on his sword. It grinned as it came closer, swaying its tail slowly with confidence and licking its lips. The two white wolves on the side halted, continuing to growl at the trespassers.

"Wha.." Gale stammered.

"Shh." whispered Scarecrow. "No sudden sounds, no sudden movements. These are wild wolves. At instinct, they'll hunt in packs and eat you alive."

"So, we wait?" asked Jack.

"We don't want to make the first move."

"You two take on your respective sides." said Jack. "I'll face the one in the middle."

"Try not to kill them." whispered Gale.

"I don't intend to." replied Jack. "It is up to them to retreat."

Without warning, the gray wolf charged them at running speed. Jack saw it coming straight ahead jumped backwards to the left of the road to evade it. The wolf kept its eyes on Jack as it was passing him, trying to bite him at the very last minute before turning its back on him. Jack jumped backwards again missing the bite; this prompted the white wolf on the left to take advantage of the attack on Jack. Scarecrow sidestepped in front of the white wolf with his scythe ready to defend, halting the wolf in the process. Jack put himself back in the center of the road to face the gray wolf. Both of them were waiting for the first move. Jack's patience proved to be the best as the gray wolf took another charge. Instead of moving out of the way, Jack leaped into the air, just high enough to jump over the wolf and come down slicing a little hair off of its tail. The gray wolf didn't seem to be affected by it as it just turned around and prepared for another attack.

On the left, the white wolf finally made a jump at Scarecrow, only to be blocked and thrown down by the stick-end of his scythe. The white wolf got off of its back and growled in frustration at him. The two began to circle each other, both aware of each other's tactics.

Gale was circling the wolf on the right side of the road. Her eyes were concentrated on her opponent's every step. The white wolf made a sudden change in stance, quick enough to try to make her flinch. She stood in defense upon reaction, holding her shotgun by the barrel like a staff so she could block any bites. The wolf unexpectedly made haste and rushed her at full speed as Gale positioned herself to catch its attack. It glanced over her head and stopped abruptly, using its momentum to brake itself and make a sharp turn towards Jack and Scarecrow. Gale seemed confused for a brief second, then realized that the white wolf was making an attack at the other two. She had to tell them before it happened..

"Ja.. !" she cried out. She was interrupted by a harsh strike from behind, causing her to completely fall to the ground.

Jack had took his eyes off the gray wolf for one second to see Gale as she was taking her fall. However, he didn't see the white wolf charging him, the very thing that Gale was trying to tell him. He felt the force of the attack on his sword hand. This caught him by so much surprise that he had lost grip on his blade and the wolf had sent it clear away from his reach. His attention saw the blade slide across and the beast that gave him this disadvantage was going after Scarecrow.

"Watch out!" advised Jack. Moments after his warning, he sensed a closeness in range with the gray wolf. It was too late to jump or move out of the way; and even if Jack had the sword in his hand, he didn't want to kill it. On instinct, the large animal prepared its fangs for a bone-crushing bite. Jack was quick to use his hands to protect himself, holding both its jaws open. The gray wolf's strength proved to be greater as he had pinned him to the ground. Jack's hands remained intact, using the only thing he had to defend himself.

He first looked to the left to see Scarecrow holding back both white wolves with his weapon. They were on both sides of the pole, snarling and pushing him farther and farther away from Jack's position. Still fighting the strong force of the gray wolf's mandibles, he then looked to the right to see the fallen Gale. Her body lied face down in a matter of seconds until it was rolled over to have her on her back. The shifted his view to see what had turned over. His eyes beheld yet another wolf, far bigger than the one was tangling with right now. It stood just over the half-way mark on the trunk of a nearby tree, almost as wide as the road he was on, and physically built like a monster. The hair, a little more reckless than the other wolves, was dark as coal and was almost difficult to see past all this darkness. It stood over Gale, growling over her and licking its lips like she was the next meal. That brief second of finding what has happened, Jack gasped in shock and in sadness. He could not believe this was happening at all. Avoiding the murder of nature has become his ultimate downfall and he couldn't bare to think that the people who were just trying to help him were going to meet their demise in just a matter of seconds.

"NO!!" cried Jack, echoing through the forest and startling several nested birds.

Gale's eyes began to open. Everything was a haze at first and she had to take moment to herself to realize where she was. She knew she took a hard bump, feeling the soft grass against her skin. The blurry images were making the back of her head sore. She tried to ease her headache, but couldn't move her entire upper body. She opened her eyes several times, blinking until the sights became clear. She awoke to the immense menace of the forest, staring at her with its hungry dark brown eyes and drooling for the thirst of her meat. She realized she was pinned to the ground and could not escape. Looked over to see that Jack was in the same position as she was, just barely hanging on to dear life. Scarecrow, fighting the two wolves, was at a disadvantage as well. She gasped, knowing that this was going to be very difficult to escape. Scarecrow was the only one who was still standing, but she could never imagine how long he could hold them before it's too late. She turned to the face of her demise, angry and hurt all at the same time. She scowled at this monster, ready for her fate whether it be Scarecrow finding a way out of his situation or the cruel torture of being eaten alive. She then knew why she stayed with the Munchkins all those years and not left to the outside world again, she thought.

Suddenly, upon staring at the viciousness in front of her, the expression of her face changed. From an expecting-of-fate scowl to a recognizing concern, the dark brown eyes of the wolf, though still blood-thirsty, became very familiar to her. The dark wolf's face came very close to hers, still growling at her. Even though she still feared the wolf, Gale's new visage did not budge.

"Toto?" she almost sobbed.

From that moment, no other sounds were heard. The actions were still going across the road, but two sets of ears only heard the adrenaline running through Gale's breath and the silence from the wolf's growl. The dark wolf hid its fangs and readjusted its ears, slowly moving its head back, tilting it in perplexity. Gale stared at its every move, wondering if it's actually true of what she had said. The wolf moved its head toward her face once more, still not growling or any forms of intimidation. It searched her face with its cold, wet nose, looking for the best place to get a scent. Finally, it reached her right ear and breathed in. The dark wolf unanticipatedly stepped off of her fallen body in a swift motion. Gale looked at it from her back on the ground a gradually began to sit up. The dark wolf's eyes came back to reality and then it barked abruptly, the speed of sound slightly tapping the face of Gale.

The other wolves stopped what they were doing and looked at the larger dark wolf, tilting their heads in the same fashion of perplexity. The dark wolf barked again and ran back into the wild bushes. The two white wolves were the first to follow, then the gray wolf, but not before giving Jack a last grunt.

Scarecrow fell to his knees in exhaustion, while Jack was quick to his feet and rushed to aid Gale. He was surprised and yet relieved to see that there was no harm done to her.

"Are you all right?" Jack asked.

"Wha.. ? Yeah, I'm fine." replied Gale, taking in everything that just happened. "Just a little dizzy, is all."

"Maybe you should rest." suggested Jack.

"No, I think we should keep going. I'm okay, really." she said attempting to get up, only to have her weak legs give out and making her lose balance. Jack caught her and set her down nicely sitting on the edge of the road.

"At least until you are ready to walk, Gale." added in Scarecrow. "We could wait. I mean, I could use a breather. That was intense."

"Well..." Gale thought, actually considering taking the advice. "I do feel a _little _better already."

"Take your time." said Jack, as he handed her a canteen from her pack. "Drink some water."

"Thanks." she said. She took a drink, and periodically drank some more while looking around the spot. She saw Scarecrow breathing heavily completely on the other side of the road, along with Jack's sword. She was still trying to take together what had just happened. She tried to stay emotionless in front of the others. She didn't think anyone was ready to hear what she had just witnessed and how she was the reason the wolves had ran away. Suddenly, she heard a piercing howl that could only be made by a wolf. Her head tried to catch the sound in the best position possible. Another howl graced her ears. She didn't know how to react, but she gave a little smile anyway. She took one last drink from the canteen and stood right up, with no faults. Another howl echoed through the forest as she tried to look for it with her ears.

"Okay." she said. "Let's go."

* * *

_Even though Gale and Waco (pronounced WAY-ko) are loosely based on characters created by L. Frank Baum, I still like to think of them as my own. However, the characters Samurai Jack, Aku, The Scotsman, and The Scotsman's Wife are all property of Genndy Tartakovsky._


	7. Chapter Seven

**The Ruins of Oz**  
starring Samurai Jack

story by  
Mercutio Puck

* * *

Chapter Seven.

"So, you're just trying to get home, huh?" Scarecrow asked after finally hearing the entire story of Jack's legacy. "There was a time where I thought I needed a brain. However, during this time of shock and awe, events have happened that made me realize that I was quite intelligent the whole time. And, not to put myself on a podium, I've become brighter than ever... despite this recent gloom set in Oz."

"I am sorry." said Jack, mere seconds away reassuring Scarecrow what he meant. "For your world, not your mind."

"The point is," began Scarecrow, not even thinking of what Jack said. "that the entire time I thought I needed something, I had it all along. An epiphany, if you will."

Jack still had no idea what he was talking about.

"Think of it this way. Your destiny right now is to return to your world. You're enduring flying monkeys, talking trees, Munchkins, and who knows what's to come your way. However, you're handling so well, especially during these harsh times. Don't you think it's possible that you've been home all along?"

Jack looked at Gale, who was on his right. Gale looked back, feeling that they were thinking the same thing at the same time. Jack returned his focus to Scarecrow, who was awaiting a logical rebuttal.

"Your philosophy is interesting, and you have proven your gift of intelligence." he replied.

Scarecrow nodded in recognition.

"However, my destiny is a fate, and my fate is sealed. Not only do I have to return to my world, but I must defeat Aku, travel back to my original time, and then defeat Aku once more so I can prevent his evil from the future. Or in this case, the present. That is why Oz can not be my home."

Scarecrow displayed his understanding by nodding.

"You, Jack, are also very intelligent." said Scarecrow. He put his hand on Jack's shoulder, almost patting him on the back. He knew he was beat, and he also knew that he should have listened more to Jack's story of adventure and treachery instead of trying to turn it into his tale of self-teaching and enlightenment. He thought himself to be arrogant and foolish, realizing he had no right to change Jack's mind. Instead of apologizing and admitting his flaws, he stared at Jack right in the eye. "It is my honor and privilege to aid you on your quest."

Jack smirked as they continued their way through the Black Forest. After Scarecrow had taken his hand away from Jack, his focus returned to the road. Gale almost chuckled to herself after overhearing the conversation. After knowing Scarecrow for so long, it was a little humorous for her to see him make things up on the spot as intelligent as he claims to be. It was also funny to see him losing a battle of wits like that, but nobody mentioned anything about it. The past was behind them already, however Gale was still laughing on the inside. She kept a slight smirk to herself as she continued with Scarecrow and Jack.

She suddenly couldn't stop thinking what had happened earlier with the encounter from the wolves. Particularly, their flee. Gale debated to herself whether it was derived from fear or from mercy. She made Jack promise not to kill them, and through that was the evident struggle for life they had to endure. They were almost killed themselves; however, they still walk.

Perhaps it was a matter of disbelief, she thought. The Dark Wolf was mere seconds from eating her alive; and out of a state of sub-conscious, she saw a familiarity and questioned it to be what was once another old friend. The beast responded peculiarly, as if having heard that name before. She vaguely remembers, but she can imagine being face-to-face with the Dark Wolf, gazing into its dark brown eyes. It backed away in surprise and uncertain thought. Then it came in closer to try to recognize a scent, not expecting the slim chance of probability. One inhale, and it swiftly backed away off her fallen body. It called its pack off of her comrades and disappeared into the Black Forest, never to be seen again.

Her memory hazed away from her thoughts and the vision of the road to Emerald City was now all she could see. She looked at her acquaintances, still walking with silent smugs. She grinned to herself once more. However, her sense of realization overcame herself. With no sign, she felt the guilt on her shoulders. She remembers agreeing to stay in Munchkinland to protect those who have helped her. Her mind always on alert for attacks, she can't even remember the last time she had seen him. If the Dark Wolf was Toto, then allowing her and her friends to live was a sign of forgiveness, for giving everything away to look after those in need in this time of ruin. She had no way to get it out of her mind that the Dark Wolf was more noble than she was. A light flood of grief poured on her shoulders all the way down to her heels.

She kept to herself, showing no signs of gloom in front of Scarecrow and Jack. They were too steady on their path to notice anyway. She could tell it would only slow things down and she wouldn't want to put a halt to Jack's quest. Gale's eyes went back to the road, glimpsing at her boots as they moved forward, step-by-step, unknown what was in front of her.

It was still dark. The branches from the trees began to sway with the wind. No birds, insects, not even wolves could be heard. The only sound available to their ears were that of the leaves whispering with the subtle breeze accompanied by their own walking footsteps.

Jack's eyes were directly on the road in front of him. His ears were on the trees. All of his senses have heightened since arriving in the Black Forest. He knew that this forest could not be trusted and could not let himself rest until he was out of it. Suspicions began to arise in his mind. As he peered left-to-right with his eyeballs and listened cautiously, he thought back to his encounter with the Trees that talked. Even for enchanted beings of nature, they acted so sinister. In the end, they didn't turn out to be a big a threat as originally thought; still, how can they judge an entire forest out of two Trees? The ones that surround the road could very well be laughing at them while they walked, plotting an idea to take them out or even make them wander the forest forever, only furthering Jack away from destroying Aku in his own time. He looked at Gale, who was looking down with her arms folded. She needed this done too, he thought. The minute Jack goes back in time to defeat Aku, then this time would surely live a better life without having to fear such evil. He could not afford to stop now, not ever.

Suddenly, Jack noticed something.

"Wait." he said. Gale and Scarecrow halted.

His ears opened as wide as they could. The only thing he heard was the leaves shaking in the wind. However, his gi wasn't shaking, nor could he feel any wind on his face. In the sharpest distance, he heard a wing flap.

"Look in the trees." he ordered. "Something else is moving the branches."

They looked up and around. Any tree that didn't have a moving leaf was quickly ignored. Their backs formed the corners of an acute triangle, circling so they each got a different view of above.

"Over there!" Scarecrow pointed to a section on the right of the road as he pulled out his scythe.

Gale aimed her shotgun directly at the rustling section of the branches. Her aim did not shake, but the rustling of leaves shifted quickly, like a fly flying away from a swatter. Surprised at first, she followed with the nose of her gun, not taking her sights off of it. The movement in the leaves was traveling even from tree to tree.

"BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

A raspy cackle forced them to turn around. Each person heard the laughter from a different direction, putting their backs on the inside of a tightly formed triangle. The leaves were rustling some more, but the shift had split into two, and then two again, and it duplicated once more. Eight forces were moving in such a chaotic fashion. From both side of the road, it was difficult for them to keep an eye on all of them at the same time. The phantom movements took a turn of events when they all began to go one direction. They made their way to a dark void in the foliage and the leaves suddenly stopped shaking.

All eyes were on the void, where there were no leaves, no branches, not even another tree was in sight. Just darkness.

A pair of eyes suddenly opened wide in two perfect circles underneath red, flaming eyebrows. They intently stared into the eyes of Gale. Then a green, bearded jaw with curved fangs appeared and slowly began to grin as the eyes narrowed.

"Monkeys." she whispered to herself.

Then another pair of eyes, in the same fashion as the first pair, opened with no hesitation. Then another. Then two and finally three more. Sixteen fiery eyes in various distances in the void were glaring the three travelers in truly an intimidating encounter. The one face flew out of the void, exposing it's identity and physique of the demonic, winged primate. Gorilla-sized simians that were black as evil with vulture-like wings and long tails all flew their way around them, following their leader with the dark red jacket and howling in the most primitive behavior.

"Aku." whispered Jack to himself, while tightening the grip of his sword. He remembered that they were after Gale, and he assumed that Scarecrow probably knew more about the situation than he did. Though Jack never knew or asked why his guide was sought out by the obviously corrupted law, he knew he had to do all he could to prevent her capture.

"We meet again, Dorothy Gale!" said Aku, sounding confident in his numbers. "Foolish Warrior! I see you have met Scarecrow."

Jack shifted his eyes to Scarecrow, as Scarecrow did the same to Jack. Both pairs of eyes turned back to the monkeys.

"Recruitment isn't in your favor, today." he continued. "The addition of one, pointless rag-doll can never compete with my infinite army. You're only endangering another life, Gale! Give yourself up while you still can!"

"Never!" she yelled back at Aku. "You're the one who should be locked up!"

"I'm only following orders, Dorothy Gale!" he replied. "And you! Accomplices! You will face great penalty if you do not cooperate. Your charge will be far worse than hers!"

Although Jack had no idea why she was being pursued, he only knew that if Aku was the officer of the peace that the law was corrupted and Gale was not evil at all. Thus, he stood his ground with her and Scarecrow.

"Your law shall not overcome the path of righteousness!" said Jack. "You will not hold any one of us captive no matter how infinite your numbers are. I will not end my quest by surrendering the help I have. The minute I return to the past, your reign of terror will only be referred to as an ancient myth that ends in your demise." He briefly paused momentarily as he stared into the eyes of Aku. "That is a promise."

"I'm warning you, Foolish Warrior." he continued. "There will be a price to pay if..."

"GWAAAAAAHH!!"

A painful scream from a monkey directly in front of Aku had cut off the leader before he could finish his threat towards Jack. All the monkeys, as well as Jack, Gale, and Scarecrow, made their attention to the screaming primate. At first sight, the one monkey appeared to have fallen to the ground split in half, about one foot from being cut into two. It writhed and cried in pain, lying their shocked, frozen stiff until it had turned into dust and ash, swept away by a mysterious breeze.

"Wha..?" a perplexed Aku couldn't even find the words to finish his question. Looking up from the ashes, he saw a figure emerge from the forest. The shadowy, human form was clanking its way to the road, wielding an wood-cutter's axe. As his features began to appear clearer, Aku began squint his eyes, trying to recognize the axe-wielding assassin. Then his eyes widened in shock.

"Tin Man!" he yelled in a mix of anger and slight fear. He turned to the monkey on his right, yelling at him. "I thought I ordered you to banish him forever nine years ago!"

The monkey grunted back, pointing its fingers on the forest ground and shrugging its shoulders.

"You just dropped him off in the Black Forest and the problem was solved?!" he retaliated, supposedly understanding the monkey tongue. "Why didn't you tell me that he was still alive in the Forest."

The monkey grunted some more.

"You guess you forgot?!"

"GWAAAAAAHH!!"

The Tin Man had sliced another one of the monkeys, who was distracted from the bickering going on between Aku and one of its comrades. His appearance became more into the light. His structure was like that of a human skeleton of dark steel, lacking luster and shine, but still very strong. Covering his skull was a metallic helmet with a visor, the kind that would be seen on a medieval knight, with a narrow nozzle emitting light clouds of steam sitting on the top where the plume would be. His shoulders were also armored, as well as his torso with an iron breast plate that made him appear to have a strong upper body. His upper arms were uncovered, but his forearms had very heavy vambraces, similar in color to that of his breast plate, that allowed the inner elbow to bend properly and protected the outer elbow. His hands were protected by strong gauntlets, proportioned to his forearmor and were wrapped around a giant wood-chopper's ax, ready to take another swing. The waist was under a tasset, which gave protection to his hips and the area right between his legs. His skeletal thighs were as protected as his upper arms, but his giant, full-plated greaves came all the way up to his knee caps. It was no wonder that the winged primates had wanted this man out of their hair. Because of this mysterious metal man, the number of simians had reduced in a matter of seconds. The battle was officially six against four.

"What is this?!" shouted an annoyed Aku. "A do-nothing contest?! Attack!"

The Tin Man took another swing at another monkey, but the creature evaded by hovering backwards inches from the ax. One from behind approached the Tin Man ready to attack, but he had turned around in enough time to stop the simian dead in his flight. Then from behind, the evading monkey flew in for an aerial strike. The one facing the Tin Man was grinning at the advantage. Unfortunately, a swift cut from a particular samurai sword caught the attacking simian before he could collide with the Tin Man. The sound had attracted the Tin Man to turn around and behold Jack for the very first time. Though he had never seen him ever in his life before, he showed his gratitude by closing his armored fist to his chest. The other monkey, still surprised that the sneak-attack-tactic had failed, kept his jaw hanging for a moment's pass. While trying to catch the Tin Man off-guard and raising its beastly arms in rage, it, too, met its fate and let out its final cry of failure and pain. The Tin Man turned around once more, to come in contact with a grinning Scarecrow.

"Don't tell me you were here this entire time." Scarecrow said to the Tin Man.

"GUYS!" screamed Gale, who was left in the center of all the remaining winged primates.

Aku and the other three monkeys quickly scattered around the forest, into the enigmatic foliage.

Gale kept her shotgun up and ready for fire. She tried to think why the other monkeys didn't just rush her when she was left in the center, surrounded by monkeys. However, she knew they were up to something and she had to keep all of her senses keen. Her weapon was hit out of her hand from a blind attack when she was looking up. She saw the gun slide across the road, away from her and the others, and reach the bushes, then turned around to see the red jacketed Aku laughing at her. She gave him a scowl and started to run to retrieve her shotgun. One of the surviving monkeys flew out of the bush that was mere inches where the gun had slid. At a great speed, it caught the right arm of Gale whom, out of instinct, stopped briefly to turn the other way. She began to ascend up in the air at the hands of the flying monkey, watching her view of the forest get smaller and smaller. Another monkey had flown in to grasp her other arm. She was rendered helpless once more. After she had screamed, kicking her only free limbs, the other primates flew upward, howling with success from capturing her.

"We have her!" cried Aku. "Fall back, and upwards! We won't repeat what happened last time!"

They followed Aku's orders, flying up as quick as they can so no one would be able to reach them from the ground. It appeared that their tactics were succeeding and they were going to get away with their captive. The creatures all howled with joy as they were making their way above the forest. Aku, in particular, was grinning the widest. He flew to the head of the pack right after they reached the right height and took his rightful place as the leader, making sure he was the first to appear when he delivered the good news.

A samurai sword launched its way into the sky. The monkeys were completely sidetracked by their success in capturing Gale that they hadn't noticed the steel projectile making its way toward them. The monkey carrying the left arm had let go after being impaled through the chest. Seconds after it let out a painful cry, a woodcutter's ax spun its way up like an over-sized tomahawk. The monkey on her right arm was too busy trying to keep balance since its comrade had unexpectedly fallen. The blade of the spinning ax had found its way to its skull, chopping its way down in its continuing rotation until the monkey was split in two. Like it's fallen comrade, a cry came from its separated throat. These cries quickly grabbed the attention of Aku, seeing two of the remaining three monkeys fall with familiar weapons in their bodies. Gale was free-falling for a split second until the last monkey grabbed her in mid-air with its feet. Aku instructed its final minion to move faster, but right behind him was Scarecrow defying all laws of physics with scythe in hand, positioned to take down the final monkey with one swath. Aku's eyes widened as the monkey carrying Gale kept its grip while losing the lower half of its body to the blade of Scarecrow. As Gale was going down with monkey legs still holding on to her arms, Scarecrow was unable to stop from flying. He made eye-contact with Aku and attempted to catch him with his scythe. Aku quickly moved out of the way from his death and watched Scarecrow fly across the forest, not stopping until he started to descend back down. Aku almost laughed at site of his adversary plummeting to the surface, but knew there was no time for revelling and dove back down to the forest to catch Gale and take her as his prisoner. After rigorously flying through the branches and trees, he finally spotted Gale being let down from the arms of the Tin Man. His velocity increased in his attempt to catch her once more. Gale ran to pick up her shot gun off the road. She cocked it once and aimed at the oncoming Aku. Aku was quick to see this and began to fly straight up with fear, just missing the fire that was shot head on. He was very lucky to escape death for the second time.

"This is not over, Dorothy Gale!" he screamed in his escape. "It is not over until you are taken prisoner to the witch! She has the whole world in her sight and her eyes are on you! This is not over!" He flew away, letting everyone know that he will be back, threatening next time, he may succeed.

* * *

_Even though Gale, the Tin Man, and Waco (pronounced WAY-ko) are loosely based on characters created by L. Frank Baum, I still like to think of them as my own. However, the characters Samurai Jack, Aku, The Scotsman, and The Scotsman's Wife are all property of Genndy Tartakovsky._


End file.
